After last weekend’s Women’s March, someone very close to me said, “Wow. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

And I wondered exactly why this person, who I know has had many exciting, meaningful, diverse, and powerful experiences in her life, would think this was the coolest thing she’d ever done?

I know it was historical. I realize it was powerful. I understand that it was probably very emotional and personally significant to her in a way that I probably cannot understand because I’m not a woman.

But I’m betting there was also another reason. . .

I’m guessing one of the reasons last Saturday’s march was the coolest thing she’d ever done is because she had chosen to act intentionally, to act with purpose, to act in accordance with inner values and core philosophies that were in keeping with the authenticity of who she was.

Acting intentionally and with purpose increases the meaning, significance, and power of our lives because we know there is a reason we are making the choices we’re making. There is a cause we are supporting or an endgame we’re after.

It's something teachers do all the time. And yet often, not enough. Or at least, not in the right way.

When we act with intention, we are focused. We are tuned in. Our actions and behavior are not random or serendipitous, but rather are “about” something.

So even if you don’t march in the streets with thousands of others, you can still stop and ask yourself:

How can I act intentionally with my health?

How can I act intentionally with my teaching practice?

How can I act intentionally with my spouse or my children?

How can I behave in a way that clarifies my focus and how can I make choices that are based on my intuition, core values, and belief systems?

How can I decide to do something right now that will take me where I want to go and either improve my life, the lives of my family or students, or even the lives of those around me?

Don’t let life simply happen. Choose a reason for doing what you're doing.

Decide what your intention is for the significant things that you do and the important moments in your day, then act on them.And if you're not careful, you may decide that it's one of the coolest things you’ve ever done. TZT

When I looked up, I realized my family members were assembled in the kitchen, staring at me.

They were staring at me because they were well-acquainted with my 2017 commitment to decluttering.

“Yes,” I said, clearing my throat and screwing up my courage. “I threw it away. We have a new knife set and the paring knife was from the old one. I didn’t think we needed it.”

Silence.

“We did.”

***

I’ll spare you the details of the conversation that ensued, but I wanted to share the solution with you—which, as it turns out, was an excellent idea that came from my youngest daughter.

She said, “Why don’t we get one of those big, clear bins from Target and set it in the corner of the room and throughout the week each of us can put stuff in that we think we don’t need or want anymore and then once a week we can all go through it and empty the box, either by throwing the stuff away, dumping it in a pile for a garage sale, or putting it back where we got it from if someone still wants to keep it. That way we don’t get rid of anything that someone else wants to keep.”

Before you can say Minimalism, she and I were in the mini-van on our way to Target, where we bought a clear, white bin that is now sitting in the corner of our living room and already has stuff in it. Naturally, the goal would be to declutter so much that, eventually, we get rid of the bin as well! But until then, no one will feel like his or her possessions will be thrown away without permission and/or approval. And we've agreed that every Sunday, we will all meet and take some time to go through the box. This Sunday will be our first attempt at this new household decluttering ritual, all because of a $12 bin from Target.

And you know what else I got while we were at Target?

Yup.

A new paring knife.* TZT

*This is actually a very important point when it comes to decluttering. There WILL be times you get rid of stuff and go for it later. But I promise you that, much like the paring knife, there is very little that cannot be immediately and inexpensively replaced. But checking with family members is a good way to avoid trashing sentimental or irreplaceable items. But if a paring knife brings back particularly emotional memories, perhaps you have more pressing issues than decluttering. :)

I was fortunate enough this summer to bring The Zen Teacher message to teachers around the country and I guarantee you that during these workshops, I learned as much or more than the teachers I was there to serve.

This workshop was especially meaningful to me because I was hired by Jane Schaffer, renowned educator and originator of The Jane Schaffer Writing Program. She was my friend as well as my mentor. I always say that Jane took an inexperienced and scattered newbie, and turned him into a teacher. Since Jane’s retirement, Dr. Deborah Louis has been continuing Jane’s awesome work and was kind enough to ask me to share my message with her handful of elite trainers at their yearly retreat. Not only was I lucky enough to give a workshop in a beachfront private residence in Ventura County, California, but the camaraderie was such that we all joined in on a few a capella choruses of America’s “Ventura Highway,” which was winding itself through that part of California just minutes from the event. It was also during this workshop that I improvised the line “Intuition Never Screams,” which not only eventually became a blog post you can read here, but is now a critical part of the Zen Teacher workshop.

THE LEARNING CENTER OF NORTH TEXAS(August 10th, Dallas/Fort Worth)

I’m not a traveler, but I’m learning. So to fly to Texas was a life experience for me and wouldn’t have been possible unless Brenda Cavin Grizzle and Lloyd Day of The Learning Center of North Texas hadn’t had such amazing faith in me and the Zen Teacher message. One thing I learned during my experience reminding Texas teachers about the importance of Self-Care as they readied themselves for a brand new school year was that there is, in fact, enough content and activities to do a three-hour workshop. It was also the first time I focused exclusively on teaching my newly developed, 7-Step Blueprint for creating Focus, Simplicity, and Tranquility in the classroom.

THE LEARNING COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL KEYNOTE ADDRESS(August 30, 2016)

It was in New Jersey in 2015 that I gave the first Zen Teacher workshop at the EdScape 2015 conference and realized I had underestimated the need for self-care for teachers. So it was so rewarding that this was also the destination for my very first keynote address to a group of New Jersey educators who were also preparing themselves to re-enter the classroom for the 2016-2017 school year. The venue was beautiful, the people were exceptionally friendly and receptive, and I was humbled to be able to be the keynote speaker for a large number of the local charter schools represented at this event. My sincere thanks go to Colin Hogan for his great kindness and faith. I was also able to sneak into New York City for a few hours and spent some time in Greenwich Village and visited a little venue called The Bitter End, where many of my favorite folk, rock, and comedy artists from the 60s began their careers**, just as I began a new phase of my career on this same coast almost a year ago.

*

One common thread I noticed throughout these three workshops was that each of the organizers in charge were, in fact, visionary educational leaders who recognized the need to take care of teachers and to value their health and well-being. Imagine if EVERY state, district, site, and admin team felt the same.

What would education, learning, and our students’ endgame look like then? TZT

If you are interested in a Zen Teacher workshop or keynote address for your site or event, please contact Shelley Burgess for my rates at daveburgessconsulting@gmail.com. I am also available to create videos for your school events, host Google Hangouts or Skype sessions, or share content and activities through various other methods. Just ask!

*And yes, that is the same blazer in all the pictures. (I figure if it worked for Steve Jobs. . . )

If we’re still enough, we can start to listen to those little leadings that occur very deep inside us.

No, not those leadings. . .Try to stay with me.

I’m talking about those impulses we get that tell us whether or not we should do something.

Or not do something.

I’m talking about those little voices that say things like:

“Take the job”“Move to Florida”“Do NOT date that guy. He lives in his mother’s basement and has the largest collection of Brady Bunch memorabilia in the continental United States. Bad move! What about Brent in accounting? He seems nice.”

Some call this conscience.

Some call this a "gut reaction.”

Some simply call this a “hunch.”

But really, what everybody is talking about is a little thing called intuition.

Intuition is a knowing, an insight, or an understanding of circumstances that happens seemingly without conscious reasoning.

But as a society, we are very practical and we poo-poo the idea of listening to our inner wisdom. Especially in education, we want facts, data, smart goals.

But you know when your classroom needs a makeover. Or when a lesson needs an adjustment. Or when a student needs something that the state testing scores just haven’t unearthed.

You just know. . .But how?

In addition to your experience, your common sense, and your professional judgment, gifted teachers stop and listen to their intuition—even if they can’t articulate why—because they know those little voices are picking up on data we cannot experience consciously or sometimes can't even put into words.

But gifted teachers learn to listen.

Here are some things you should know about intuition:

*It’s usually right.*It’s a muscle that can be built and toned*Listening to it takes practice*It wants to help you.*It often takes stillness and silence to get it to come to you.*It’s patient, but it isn’t loud*It waits for you to be still, to value silence, to want to listen.

So as we move into this new school year, remember that in addition to using your teaching experience, your common sense, and your professional judgment, please also remember to be still and listen to your intuition.

Because while it will whisper when you least expect it, you can rest assured that it will whisper.

As we move toward the end of the school year, the need for intentional and radical self-care becomes even more critical as our professional obligations and responsibilities increase and the calendar opportunities for fun and downtime dwindle.

But that’s why I’m here: to remind you to take care of YOU.

Recently, I saw the meme pictured above* on Facebook and I thought it was an idea that my fellow Zen Teachers should hear about and learn to embrace. So I want to spend some time here sharing why I think you should have a date with yourself just as soon as you can manage it. A recent edition of Brainpickings.com, discusses psychoanalyst Adam Phillips' idea of “fertile solitude” and Brainpickings.com says it is “absolutely essential not only for our creativity but for the basic fabric of our happiness — without time and space unburdened from external input and social strain, we’d be unable to fully inhabit our interior life. . .”

All true. Plus, it's fun.

So if you take the leap and make a date with yourself, here are 6 suggestions about how to have an awesome time taking care of yourself and discovering the beauty of “fertile solitude.”:

1. Clear your schedule and turn off your phone. First of all, no one is going to give you time fora date with yourself, so you’ll have to schedule it yourself. Be brave enough and strong enoughto lift the pen to your kitchen calendar and mark it in. Then, at the appointed time, leave your ball and chain (read: cell phone, Blackberry--are they even a thing anymore?--, iPad, or other personal deviceturned off and shoved in a drawer). Recently, writer Elizabeth Gilbert posted on her Facebookpage that she was going to do a “digital sabbath,” and spend the weekend unplugged, and I thought this was a marvelous idea.

2. Take a bath or shower and think only about great it feels. Bubble bath? Essential oils? Foo-foo lotion on your skin.? All of it can be such an amazingly mindful experience, for both women AND men.Being mindful during a bath or shower can be incredibly invigorating and rejuvenating. In fact, I wrote anentire chapter for The Zen Teacher about the sensuality of a mindful shower, but wiser minds prevailedand I was asked to cut it so that the publisher didn’t get slapped with an NC-17 rating. Nevertheless,consider being mindfully present and luxuriating during your next bath or shower and you’ll definitelyunderstand the benefits of this approach.

3. Change into your coziest pajamas. It took most of my life before I realized that I don’t have totolerate clothes that are not comfortable. I’ve had itchy shirts, baggy pants, saggy socks, andpinchy shoes. No more. Now I wear loafers most everywhere I go because they’re like slippers,blue jeans are like a second skin to me, and I slip into my pajamas whenever I can, and havinga date with oneself is the perfect time to wear comfortable clothes. In truth, I’m probably only ahalf-step away from pants with elastic waistbands and sandals with black socks, but who cares?

4. Cook up your very favorite treat. If you read this blog regularly, it’s no secret that my favorite treat is hot, buttered popcorn in a big bowl, usually accompanied by a rom-com or documentary on Netflix or some Joe Cocker from my Classic Rock playlist on my phone or boombox. But for you, of course, it can be anything: Rice Krispie treats, cupcakes, oatmeal raisin cookies, a lemon meringue pie, or raspberry turnovers. The key is return over and over again to your favorites. Your date with yourself should pamper all of your senses, including your culinary ones.

5. Make a list of what you love about yourself, and what you’d love to achieve. Some of us dothe second part, but almost NONE of us do the first part. Your date with yourself is a time tocelebrate YOU. If you were on a date with a significant other and wanted to score some points,you would almost certainly spend some of that time signing his or her praises. No different here.Extend that kindness to your current date (that’s YOU!) and show that date some sugar.

6. Celebrate the things you already are, and make the plans to turn the rest into reality. Wow, TWO suggestions to honor and compliment ourselves. I’m sure you’re all like, “Slowdown, Turbo!”, but we do it so infrequently that perhaps we NEED two nudges to really make it happen.Being alone and celebrating ourselves are often two things that couldn’t be LESS accepted in oursociety. So if you put them together, you’ll probably get a front row, window seat on the Weirdo Train.So what? Do it, anyway.

Use these suggestions as is or modify them to your own needs and rhythms. How you approach your date is up to you. But one thing I want you to understand is that you are an awesome person. So as this school year winds to a close, don’t forget that you deserve to take some time for you.

No one is suggesting that you be lazy, irresponsible, or self-indulgent. We just want to see you take care of yourself so you have the passion and energy to continue your best work. We also want to see you recognize your own worth and the worth of spending some quality time with yourself so you can continue to give more to the others who are special to you. TZT

*

ZEN TEACHER ACTION STEP:

I challenge you to do exactly what #5 suggests. Make a list of ten things you love aboutyourself. Scary, I know. But keep in mind that no one needs to see it but you. Also keep in mind that there’s a difference between vanity and a sense of self-worth. Vanity is not healthy, whereas Self-worth is indispensable. As teachers, we often confuse the two. Now go be nice to you.

*Forgive me for not citing an original source, but this was just a meme on the Internet and, well,you know how that goes.

When I gave my first Zen Teacher workshop last October at New Jersey’s EdScape 2015 conference, it was a watershed moment for me because it became clear that the need teachers have for a sense of peace in their profession ran much more deeply than I first anticipated. The same thing has been true in every workshop I’ve given since. Consequently, I feel as if I have found a new calling.

And in each of my workshops, we have used what I call The Zen Teacher Activity sheets to show teachers how to create more space, enjoy more peace, and develop their own Zen Practices outside of the classroom. The Activity Sheets have been an integral part of my message and program, and have only ever been available for workshop participants.

Until now.

Beginning immediately, I want to offer these Activity Sheets to everyone. Anyone who signs up for the Zen Teacher newsletter will now receive the 14-page Activity Sheet booklet absolutely free, simply for signing up. To join now and receive your own free copy of the Zen Teacher packet simply by signing up for The Zen Teacher newsletter, please click here.

I’m also happy to report that I’ve been booking more and more Zen Teacher workshops and presentations around the country and the Zen Teacher message has been picking up steam! I'll be in Oxnard in June, for example, working with an ELA teachers Mastermind training group, and I’ll be in Texas in August sharing the Zen Teacher message with The Learning Center of North Texas, an organization that has always been extremely supportive of my work, and I'll be in New Jersey at the end of August, which means I'll have hit both ends AND the middle of the country!

But until I’m booked more often and closer to wherever you are , you can also have the same workshop materials and activity sheets as my participants just by signing up for the Zen Teacher Newsletter here.

I also hope you’ll tell the people who make such decisions that I would love to come and share with your staff or your district some ideas on how teachers can embrace a greater sense of peace and a deeper commitment of radical and intentional self-care. Tell them you'd like a Zen Teacher workshop of your very own!

To book a workshop or presentation, please contact my publisher, DBC, Inc., by emailing Shelley Burgess at daveburgessconsulting@gmail.com, and specify if you're inquiring about a 1 hour, 2 hour, half-day, or full day workshop. Thank you.

Until then, I hope you enjoy the Zen Teacher Activity Sheets, and I look forward to our continued conversation regarding becoming Zen Teachers. TZT

To my delight, the response was immediate and enthusiastic. But even then, I was left with many questions—how do I do it, How long do I make the sessions, do I charge or not, and how do I include as many people as possible when each Google Hangout is limited to a maximum of 10 people?

But after some thought, I think I’ve discovered a solution:

I am looking for groups of people who are reading The Zen Teacherand who or serious about participating in a Google Hangout Zen Teacher class. This might be a school, a district, or even just a group of friends running an informal book club.

If this sounds like you, I will be happy to offer a FREE, 60 minute Zen Teacher Google Hangout to your group. If you get 3-10 people together who are reading the book and want to go deeper, simply contact me and we will set a date and time. Even if you read the book months ago, feel free to get a few people together and hang out with me so we can talk about how to create more focus, peace, and simplicity for you. This approach seemed to make the most sense and ensure that the participants were interested and committed to this message.

You can either reach out to me here in the comments section of the blog, on Twitter (@thezenteacher), or by emailing me at teachingzen@gmail.com. Once I am contacted, we will not only set a date and time, but discuss what kind of focus you’d like you and your group would like to take. I'm very excited about this new forum for showing teachers how to maximize their performance without sacrificing themselves in the process.

Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience and we’ll set something up. And of course, I’m always grateful when you help me spread the Zen Teacher message in any way, so please feel free to invite your staff, your friends, your colleagues, or even the crazy guy down the street.

Let’s work together to make your job and life just a little bit more peaceful.

Yesterday I talked about the importance of “small, good things”—those little things that make life worth living and renew us during times of stress and tension.

Naturally, some of my small, good things include holidays, laughter, family time, and special memories made with my children. But since part of my message concerns intentional and radical self-care, let’s look at some of my more personal small, good things that cater to my individual peace of mind.

They include:

Hot, buttered popcorn. When I was a child, my father would make a big bowl of popcorn and sit on the couch with his four kids and we would watch Happy Days, Sanford and Son, or The Rockford Files as we all pawed at the bowl. I'm sure this memory is why I love popcorn so much.

Coffee. So many of us enjoy a good cup of coffee. And I’m no different. But how often do we use our senses to enjoy each sip? How often do we notice the sound of the percolation in the coffeemaker? The rich aroma of a dark roast? The curve of the mug handle or the silver curl of steam as it rises from the pristine liquid surface? That hot first sip of heaven as it lands on our tongue? The deep, soulful flavor of a cup of black joe? Or the smooth, silky taste of our favorite flavored creamer?

Hazelnut creamer. Speaking of creamer, one of my great personal luxuries is using Hazelnut Creamer in my coffee. French Vanilla is a close second. Whenever my tastebuds get a hold of that Hazelnut Creamer, I always feel pampered.

Music. Again, the props go to my father whose record collection included some of the greatest music ever recorded. I grew up listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, The Band, Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and of course The Beatles and The Stones. Not a day goes by that I don’t use music to reboot my energy, lick my wounds, celebrate my triumphs, and/or alleviate my stress.

Real butter. I grew up in a house where finances dictated that we use margarine, not butter. But my grandmother used real butter. Consequently, every time we visited, I ran to the fridge proclaiming, “I want bread and butter.” Real butter is one luxury I’ve always allowed myself as an adult, especially because my popcorn jones.

Reading. I remember the intense feeling of freedom after graduating from college and knowing I could read anything I wanted to and that it wasn’t required. Pure bliss. There were at least four books lying around my apartment, overturned to whatever page I’d left off on. Sitting down for a few minutes to read a book still takes me to my happy place.

Orange juice. I love orange juice. But for most of my life, it just seemed simply too expensive to keep on hand, except on fairly rare occurrences. But that is changing. I have started treating myself to orange juice periodically just because it tastes good, I like it, and it makes me happy. But mostly, I justify it because I don’t do beer.

Breakfast in a diner. The older the diner, the better. The weirder, the better. I want to eat breakfast in a mom and pop diner at the edge of town where the waitresses have worked there since 1967 and the old men wear red flannel shirts and drive pick-up trucks. I want hot coffee, two eggs over medium, extra crispy hashbrowns, and sourdough toast. I want to overhear the old men in the next booth arguing about politics and looking at me funny because my nose is buried in a book. This picture is one of my greatest Zen Moments of my life.

Slippers. I realized a year or so ago that I enjoy wearing slippers so much around the house because they also make me feel relaxed, comfortable, and pampered. So I thought why not feel this way all the time? When it came time to buy a few new clothes for school this year, I bought three pair of loafers. Now I just slip ‘em on in the morning, no muss, no fuss, and—viola—slippers all day long.

These are just some of the small, good things in my life that make me feel renewed, relaxed, and rejuvenated. And do you know what they call those rare mornings on weekends or Spring Break or Winter Break or summer when I’m wearing my loafers, having breakfast in a diner, drinking my orange juice and coffee with Hazelnut creamer and listening to CCR on my earbuds?

I think they call that Heaven. TZT

***

Zen Teacher Action Step:

See if you can identify a "Small, good thing" in your life today. Be mindful of that thing that we might call one of our life's "Perfect Moments."

Let’s begin with the assumption that if you’re reading this, you know that Self-Care and Self-Compassion are important. But many of us, myself included, are often stuck on how to approach it or how to make it happen.

During this weekend’s Zen Teacher workshop at the CATE (California Association of Teachers of English) Conference in Costa Mesa, we talked about Intentional and Radical** Self-Care and, for the first time, I told teachers face-to-face about why it’s so important to break down those two words, Intentional and Radical, and how they can lead to a better understanding of Self-Care.

Intentional. The word intentional means “on purpose.” In other words, Self-Care is not going to happen by accident. No one is going to hand it to you. Chances are, no one in your life is likely to walk up to you, look you in the eye, and say, “You know what? Why don’t you go take a nap?” These things don’t typically happen as a matter of spontaneity and serendipity.

Self-Care is a choice, our choice. Self-Care takes purposeful intention to make it happen. One thing we can do to increase our odds of a little personal T.L.C. is to schedule it. Put it on the calendar. For some reason, writing something down makes it more real, gives it a little more gravitas, in a way that if it’s just swimming around in our mind as a “someday/sometime” kind of thing, doesn't really happen.

Radical. According to the on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary, radical means “very new and different from what is typical or ordinary.***” What a perfect expression of what needs to happen. In this Zen Teacher’s mind, then, radical means different, unusual, not like we always do it. If you want to improve your Self-Care, you have to do things differently than you have been doing them. This is not only a great challenge for us, but for those around us.

If you start insisting on time for renewal and rejuvenation, for example, you may face resistance and role stress from those around you who are used to you being a certain way. In true Zen fashion, then, you need to accept what is and proceed with non-judgment, but you also set boundaries that value and respect your own personal needs and desires, even if it pushes you (or someone else) out of a familiar comfort zone.

When I talk about Intentional and Radical Self-Care, there are two things to keep in mind: If you want to treat yourself better (and thereby be in a better position to love, give to, and serve others), you must do it on purpose and by choice and you must do it a way that isn’t typical or ordinary.

Doing something on purpose and by choice that is not usual is a subversive, rebellious act.

So what? Be a rebel.

Value your needs.

Take care of yourself.

After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

​Inner Peace? TZT

* I've always loved this picture form Easy Rider and a poster of it hung in my bedroom when I was 8.** The idea of RADICAL Self-Care comes from writer Anne Lamott. *** Interestingly, the second Merriam-Webster definition for radical said, "Very basic and important." Hmmm.

It might be a book club you no longer wish to be a part of. A hobby you've lost interest in. The committee you felt coerced to be on. The church event you never really liked in the first place. Whatever.

Just stop. Say no. Respect your time and space. And because your needs matter, insist that others respect them, too.

And when you remove that thing, what do you do with the space you've created?

You can fill it with something you're passionate about or that fulfills you. You can reflect on what you DO and DO NOT wish to do in your life. You can even use it to do a whole lot of nothing. And that's okay.

What you fill it with, OR WHETHER YOU FILL IT, is up to you.

The absence of that "just one thing" might possibly give you perhaps the smallest portion of breathing room you need in order to see things more clearly, create some space in your life, and see what's really important. TZT

When I started The Zen Teacher project, I talked a lot about achieving a work/life balance. I wanted to show teachers how to reduce their stress so they could make it to retirement, how to maximize their performance without sacrificing themselves.

And I still want those things for teachers. But I have to admit that an article I read the other day significantly altered my perception. In this article*, the writer argued that it wasn’t work/life balance that was important, but harmony.

Dictionary.com defines Harmony as “a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement” and uses words like “agreement” or “accord,” and “congruity” to further explain the concept. In lay terms, Harmony is when all the parts are working together in a way that is satisfying, complete, and pleasant. In music, for example, harmony is when all of the notes of certain chords are played in way where they blend seamlessly together. In painting, harmony is created when the color palette works together and the blending is pleasing to the eye.

If I activate my sense of Beginner’s Mind and ask, “What can I learn here?” I realize that, as much as we may try to adjust the scales to create a balance, Life and The Universe often have other plans and we find that this precious balance we seek is, in reality, often quite askew**.

And what I mostly remember feeling during those times when things seem off-kilter is the frustration of not being where I wanted to be, not spending enough time in one place other the other—typically, not enough time in the “life” portion and too much time in “work,” portion. These experiences weren’t even in the same zip code as “balanced,” let alone on the same continent as harmony.

Conversely, during times when I did feel that things were operating as they should be, when I was in line with my purpose and sense of self and my life was in a sense of flow, I felt a greater sense of harmony. And experiencing a sense of harmony, I must admit, often feels better (more fulfilling, more peaceful, more pleasant) than simply experiencing a state of balance. It just feels richer and purer in some way.

As teachers, then, there are several ways to ensure that we are operating from a place of harmony--even when everything else seems out of balance.

We can:

Know our value system and act within it. Consistently acting within our value system is what is commonly known as “integrity.”

Be around people we like. If we like the company, even times where there is less balance can feel more pleasant.

Listen to our bodies. Our bodies tell us more than we think, and we listen to them LESS than we think.

Practice Self-Compassion. If we are aware of our limitations, we will experience less stress, simply because we will know when we have overextended ourselves and need to re-align our energies toward a greater sense of peace and fulfillment.

Find our Zen Practice. Developing an activity that fires up our passion and fulfills us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually will increase our sense of personal enjoyment and satisfaction which will, in turn, help us through those times when the scales are tipped. Not to put too fine a point on it, but choosing our Zen Practice should be one of the great priorities in our life.

Identify our purpose. When I was growing up, nearly all of my male relatives hated their jobs, but were locked in because of life choices they made that were, let’s say, less than mindful. I promised myself I would never do that. That’s why I became a teacher. I identified my purpose and it has always been one of the places where I have felt my greatest sense of Harmony. Even when the stress comes from wondering how I’m going to make ends meet until the end of the month, I still feel totally aligned with my purpose.

This is just a starter kit of ideas on how to create your own sense of harmony, but I assure you that when you experience harmony, you'll have some "pretty good company."

Creating balance is critical. But I absolutely love the idea of living our lives with a sense of harmony, where things are flowing and working—even when we aren’t always where we want to be or where we think we should be.

So please accept this post as a mini-manifesto that I will be changing not only my Zen Teacher tenet but my own personal approach from a focus on work/life balance to the pursuit of harmony, so that in those inevitable times when things are out of whack, I’m still singing in way that is pleasing to the ear. TZT

*Please don’t tell my students I didn’t cite my source. I can’t for the life of me remember where I read the article. Nevertheless, it still hit me between the eyes and I learned from it.

**That’s just a funny word.

ZEN TEACHER ACTION STEP:

If you'd like more information on achieving harmony in your life, a great article on how to do that can be found here.

Although I’ve always liked many of his songs, I have never been what you would call a hard core David Bowie fan. So when I was hit so incredibly hard by his death last week from cancer at the age of 69, it caught me completely off guard. Clearly, I wasn’t alone, but the loyal and devoted fans had earned their grief so why, I asked myself, was I so devastated by the news of his passing? Why did I feel such loss?

In the next few days I formulated a handful of theories:

As many have said, he gave a voice to those who felt different, apart, detached, and “other.” And this included me.

He had always been a part of my life and his passing irrevocably changed the social/cultural landscape of my entire existence.

I recognized his gifts and talents as an artist and how he changed the world we live in through his commitment to his art, his audience, and his vision.

He was a part of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Royalty that is getting older and passing on; artists the likes of which we will never see again.

His various personas seemed so alien, so “other-worldly,” that the realization that he was a man, a human, and subject to the ravages of something as real and normal and "Earthly" as cancer seemed unthinkable, and so his death seemed, well, simply not possible.

And finally, as someone very close to me pointed out, at fifty-two I was also reminded of my own impending mortality.

In days following his death, I read the posts, perused the articles and essays, played his songs (Space Oddity, a personal favorite, I played multiple times, never having once before realized what a profound metaphor it is for death), and I was reminded of what an intelligent, wise, and deeply caring artist we had lost. But I came across one bit of Bowie trivia that, from the perspective of practicing a Zen Teacher lifestyle, absolutely blew my mind.

In surfing the net, I found out that David Bowie once answered a series of questions known as The Proust Questionnaire (think of the questions that James Lipton asks his guests at the end of every episode of Inside The Actor’s Studio). As you might expect, his answers were thoughtful and profound, but they were just as often both unpredictable and even funny. For example:

What person do you most admire? Elvis.What person do you most identify with? Santa Claus.What’s your greatest fear? Converting kilometers to miles.

And of course there was the response that warmed this English teacher’s heart:

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Reading.

But later in the questionnaire he was asked, “What is your motto?”

A very simple and straightforward question. However, Bowie’s response was anything but.

When asked “What is your motto?” Bowie responded, “What IS my motto.”

Mind blown.

Let me unpack my interpretation here a bit: If you are--as Bowie was--a person who makes mindful choices about how you want to live your life, what and who you want in it, and how you’d like to be seen by the world, and aren’t particularly concerned about whether or not everyone “gets” your path, then “What” is always an operative question.

No matter what the situation, Bowie seems to be saying that there are “What” questions that can help you figure out where you are, who is on your side, and how to find your way:

What do I want?What are the steps to get there?What happens if I do THIS?What does this mean?What will I do next?What is important?What are implications?What are the consequences?What value system do I subscribe to?What can I do without?What difference does it make?What kind of support am I getting from others?

In fact, the list of “What” considerations is endless and they result in mindful reflections on who we are, what we want, and where we're headed. And it took a man with orange hair, an alien gleam in his eye, and a skill with words, thoughts, and a six-stringed guitar to point that out to me.

David Bowie’s contribution to the world of art and music was an inspiration to me. And now I see that along with enjoying the songs, I still have so much to learn from The Thin White Duke, from Ziggy Stardust, from The Man Who Fell To Earth, and even from Major Tom, if only how to die with grace and dignity.

And by employing the position that "What IS my motto," I have a better chance of getting grounded again, if I ever find myself "floating in a most peculiar way.” TZT

It’s easy to think of our personal responsibilities and obligations as immoveable stones in the rock quarry of our lives. But the truth is: whatever we are “expected” to do is a function of our own decisions and choices. I know: Ouch!

But the truly insidious part is that these “to-dos” are not a function of one giant, T-Rex-sized choice that we make that shackles every square on our calendar or fills-up every spot of the day’s chore list on the pad in the kitchen—you know, the one that invariably has a cat or other cute creature on it and reminds us to, “Hang in There” or “Take it Easy.” Irony, much?

In actual fact, the rock quarry gets filled with the stones of obligation over time, with small decision after small decision—some made with intention, yes, but others made out of mere habit and thoughtless repetition.

That’s where mindfulness comes in.

We must be conscious of, and intentional with, as many of our choices as possible, instead of making a knee-jerk reaction, or feeling obligated to a colleague or family member, or worst of all, acting on our habitual treadmill like some living breathing robot and just doing the same thing over and over again simply because that's how we've done it before.

On the contrary, we must ask ourselves, “Will this be the best decision to put me closer to where I want to be in the long run?” or “Is this something I TRULY want to do?”

And this is where “No*,” comes in.

Yesterday, someone in the Twitterverse sent me this article** about the benefits of saying no, and it inspired me to talk a little more about this idea of gently declining new and unwanted obligations. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s always nice to be reminded that, as Anne Lamott says, “No” can be a complete sentence. Whether we are being asked to join another district committee, lead a project or program at our school, or even asked by a loved one to do just one more thing, we have the right to evaluate and assess for ourselves whether this new thing will be do-able, or if we should gracefully and politely say, "No, thank you."

If we are asked to do something, participate in something, or take on another responsibility, saying no:

--Does not make us lazy.--Does not make us mean.--Does not make us selfish.--Does not make us insensitive, inconsiderate, or thoughtless.--Does not make us evil degenerates bent on thwarting the anguished cries of our friends and loved ones. (Extreme? Maybe. But tell me that you've never felt that way or that someone hasn't implied that you SHOULD feel that way. . .)

What saying "No" DOES mean, however, is that we are honoring our time, our health, our energy levels, and our boundaries. We are being WISE and SMART and INTENTIONAL about our decisions. We are trying to put ourselves in a better place so that we can of EVEN MORE AND BETTER use to others, instead of being overburdened, overworked, overscheduled, and ultimately, burnt out.

Sometimes, of course, we need to swing our hammer and break those rocks. Sometimes, though, we need to set the hammer down and just say no, I’ve got enough stones in this quarry already.

I have nothing to add that would be more eloquent than what they're saying. But I WILL say: Look at how they LIGHT UP when they talk about the GOOD things about teaching. This profession is transformative for both student and educator.

I’m here to say that your work—the long hours, the frustrations, the false starts, the creativity, the hours spent in mindless meetings, and the thousand lesson plans a year—are all appreciated and are not taken for granted by the rest of us.

Your effort—day after day, year after year--is meaningful and it helps people.

You make a difference in your students’ lives in ways that neither you nor they nor even society may ever fully comprehend.

You do, indeed and in fact, touch the future.

The work you do in the classroom saves lives. And that’s no exaggeration.

So I’m here to say keep the faith.

I’m here to say that if you’re feeling burnt out, stop and rest.

Be still.

Reach out.

Ask for help.

Hang in there.

Because we need you in the profession.

It’s important that we keep the good ones.

What you’re doing is important and, yes, I know you don’t hear that nearly often enough.

Do we really need another professional development session on Google Docs*?

Do we really need another professional development session on how to implement the Common Core standards?

Do we really need another professional development session where we waste our time writing and revising hoop-jumping self-reports to ensure our accreditation (here, in California, they call it WASC--the Western Association of Schools and Colleges).

Sure, these things must be addressed. And we should carve out time to do that. But at least in my experience in the last decade or so, the professional development I have been offered is redundant, irrelevant, or simply isn’t about my profession nor my development as an educator.

In my experience, the sessions where I get together with my peers are used to spoon feed us the latest circus that has come to town or to give us time to meet one of the aforementioned accreditation obligations.

Youtube can teach me how to use a Chromebook.

Or I can ask our tech person when I have a question.

And while making sure schools are doing what schools should be doing is critical, the current accreditation process is a joke and can go Forget Itself (I’m thinking of different word, but this is a family show, so I’ll say, “forget”).

Send me a memo about the new fire alarm and lockdown policies; don’t use our professional developement time to read and explain the memo to me.

Instead, find a way to send me to the last two conferences I asked to go to when my requests were denied. I'm not certain, but I suspect the question employees at Microsoft and Apple ask is not, “Can I go to the conference?” but “Which conference sounds better?”

In short, professional development and collaboration time should be used for, well, professional development.

When do I get to learn about how to teach better and within the current realities of my profession?

When do I get to learn strategies to deal with hunger, poverty, and abuse in my student population?

When I do I get to learn techniques for streamlining my teaching practice to accommodate forty students per class?

When do I get the time to write new curriculum with my peers that isn’t crammed into our one-hour a week collaboration time? (In fairness to my school, this one sometimes happens, but it’s rare. . .)

When do I get to see experts in my field, on-site workshops with leaders who love teaching and learning, who are trying new things, who are pushing the envelope in our industry in a way that will excite, motivate, and inspire me?

When do I get to do THAT in my professional development?

Right now, for example, one of the top educational professional speakers in the world is Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate. Dave worked at my school FOR NEARLY TWENTY YEARS and, at least at my school and district, we are never offered opportunities to see presenters of Dave’s caliber.

Why is that?

If your school or district offers you these types of opportunities, take advantage of them and never take them for granted. You are the lucky ones.

But please remember: You also have a voice.

Encourage your professional development leaders to give you opportunities that are relevant to you as an educator, that fit your needs and your curiosity as teachers, that fulfill you both professionally and personally.

Ask them to design professional development that addresses your curiosities.

Ask them to design professional development that addresses your well-being.

Ask them to design professional development that addresses the realities of working in the classroom you toil in everyday.

Ask (demand?) to be motivated, excited, and inspired by what is happening when you develop professionally.

Because you know what?

Those opportunities will benefit The Powers That Be as well--even though they don’t realize it.

A challenged, fulfilled educator who can explore her curiosity is a happier, better, more highly-skilled educator.

And not only is that better for the district. It’s obviously better for students.

So now that it’s summer, reflect on what kind of professional development would benefit you.

Then ask. Cajole. Coerce. Maybe even whine a little.

It may be too late to implement for the fall, but why not after that?

Seriously: Do not settle for another workshop on how to do a screencast.

You know how to do a screencast.

Or you can learn how to do a screencast.

Probably from watching a screencast.

Ask for real professional development.

Tell them to stop wasting your time. TZT

*I'm not trying to pick on educational technology in this piece; technology has been an indispensable addition to modern public education. But at least in my experience, its pursuit and the chasing of the newest and most dazzling toy takes up an INORDINATE amount of professional development that should be shared among MANY possible topics that can make us better educators.

Even teachers who love to teach are glad to see the summer. And that's okay. They've earned it. And in a way, the more glad they are to see June, the harder they know they’ve worked, and that’s a testament to their commitment.

But while teachers have certainly earned a break after nine months of busting their body, hearts, minds, and souls in some of the most important work imaginable, summer time is also a great time for The 4 Rs—reflection, relaxation, renewal, and radical self-care.

Here are some questions to get you thinking, starting first and foremost with the question teachers never want to think about: What can you do—right now—to take care of YOU?

Here are a few others to get you going:

What went well last year?

What new thing did you do this year that you will DEFINITELY do again next year?

How can you make it better?

How can you CELEBRATE your accomplishments?

What seemed essential this year, but just wasn’t?

What can you get rid of? What can you jettison to create more space for your passion?

What is in your classroom, physically, that you can do without to create more space?

What is one thing you want to try or experiment with next year?

How can you get to your favorite place more often in the next few months?

How can you see that particular person more often who you hardly ever see, but who always makes you feel better?

How can you enhance your plans for renewal this June, July, and August?

How can you be more present in each of your moments?

How can you increase the activities you WANT to do?

How can you decrease the activities you DON’T WANT to do?*

How can you carve out some time for non-doing?

What can you participate in (books, workshops, conferences, classes, internet research, podcasts, etc.) that will make you a better TEACHER** in the fall?

What can you participate in (vacations, meditation, beach, mountains, camping, etc.) that will make you a better PERSON** in the fall?

What can you do (now that it’s summer) that you just haven’t had time for because of your classroom obligations all year? Now go do it.***

What can you do to show GRATITUDE for the year you have had and to be appreciative of the time and space you will get during these next three months that not every working person is allowed?

This is far from an exhaustive list of questions, but I hope it will get you thinking about the rare opportunity you have during the next few months to sit back, take a breath, enjoy your accomplishments, renew your mind, body, and spirit, and look forward to a fall that will come for you with maybe just a smidgeon more peace and tranquility. TZT

* I realize, of course, that we all have obligations over the summer, too. **important distinction ***painting, horseback riding, quilting, writing, One Direction karaoke, what?

In a recent English department meeting, I was talking to a teacher friend about how The Education Machine is broken. I wondered how we can be expected to produce and succeed, let alone thrive in an industry that asks so much when it gives so little. Then she gave me that, "How cute they are when they don't understand" look.

"The Machine's always been broken," she said. Like me, she'd been teaching for decades, and so I've learned to trust her perspective on these things. "And look at the wonderful things it's able to do. Just as each of us is broken, all of us in our own ways, and look at all the wonderful things we're able to do. We may all be broken, but we do great things in the classroom, anyway."

I realized then I hadn't been talking about The Broken Machine so much as complaining.

I still believe that exploring teacher well-being in a world that devalues our work and effort and seems dismissive of our needs is a conversation that is currently not happening and is certainly worth having. I've seen my job here at The Zen Teacher as reminding us that, as educators, we need to take care of ourselves and each other in the face of an educational system that seems completely oblivious to what would help us thrive.

And I personally have seen this intra-industry apathy cause skillful, engaging, and committed teachers to go elsewhere. It has also meant that fewer college students are entering teacher prep programs than ever before (I've seen my anecdotal evidence has now been confirmed by recent media reports).

But my fellow English teacher's wisdom has given me a new, more positive outlook and brought me around, Zen-like, to an inescapable conclusion: Detaching from the immutable conditions of a situation and accepting what is and moving forward will yield far more results than dragging our feet and complaining about what isn't and what should be. We can always take what we have and do our best and make something good with it--namely, students who care about others and want to learn in perpetuity forever after.

I've always been proud to be a teacher, but hearing that a broken machine (and its broken cogs) can still do great things gave me a renewed sense of hope and commitment.

And I hope that I am sometimes able to provide that for you here as well.

Gamification. 1:1 devices. Flipped classrooms. The Maker Movement. STEM. Project-based learning. Teach Like A Pirate. So many excellent, valuable, and worthy conversations are happening in the world of education today. These approaches raise our skill level, increase our knowledge, engage our students, address our passions, and increase the probability that learning will occur.

But what happens when there are no more teachers left to make a game, flip the classroom, or skipper the pirate ship?

In the last decade, I have seen many excellent educators crash and burn, lose faith, meltdown, break down, and leave the profession. Why? Because of a Testing Machine that values the wrong parts, because of district level or site administration teams that were narcissistic, ignorant, apathetic or (worse) all three, and because of a woefully underfunded system that continues to heap obligations and responsibilities on the teacher and doesn't much care how that teacher makes it happen.

Sure, we can blame all of this on the abuse and mistreatment of teachers and we’d be justified because I’ve seen it with my own eyes but, in some ways, we've set ourselves up for the fall, the burnout, the meltdown. Simply by being too good. The only thing our industry knows is that, as teachers, we've set a stunning precedent--no matter what they pile on us, we make it work. Time and time again.

So they think, "Why not pile on more? Why not take even more away? They'll get it done. They always have before."

And then we take a big breath, square our shoulders, and think, “Okay. I’ll do it one last time. For the kids.”So how do we keep our excellent teachers in the classroom so that they can employ all these wonderful approaches I mentioned in the first paragraph? Since no one else seems too terribly concerned about our psychological, emotional and, yes, even spiritual needs in the classroom, I want to yell from the cyberspace rooftops how this incredibly important job is now apparently up to us; it seems as if we are the only ones left to take care of ourselves and each other. The conversation no one is having--and the one I'd like start here--is about teacher well-being.

A few short years ago--I still remember this clearly--when our classes first started reaching the 40 student per period mark, and data-driven testing sessions interrupted curriculum every few weeks or so, and the pleadings of teachers regarding workload were falling on deaf ears, I was feeling very overwhelmed by it all. And during a heart-to-heart, our vice-principal said to me, with great compassion in her eyes, that maybe I should avail myself of our district’s "Behavioral Health Services." In short, she suggested that I needed therapy, as if it might be me, and not the entire educational system, that was broken.

I'm all for therapy. I personally believe that everyone could benefit from therapy. More than once I have referred to the therapist's office as "an emotional gym," a place where you can go to work out what's going on in your head and your heart. Have a sinus infection? Go to the M.D. and get some antibiotics. Trouble with your thoughts or feelings? Go to a therapist. There should be zero stigma. In truth, I've had more therapists in my life than girlfriends (Coincidence? I think not.). But to assume in this dysfunctional educational climate that I'm the one who needs the inner work done is at best misguided and, at worst, completely delusional. And I saw that cycle play out again and again over the years until we lost many wonderful teachers and saw a marked decrease in the number of student teachers applying to work in our classrooms. Such a tragedy.

Teacher well-being is a critical issue that is not being addressed. To the saints and martyrs out there, this might just sound like so much complaining, but that’s not how I see it. The truth is: It's hard to be in the classroom these days. It just is. There's no shame in admitting that. It's the teachers who suppress that, or try to sidestep it, or ignore it, or power through without the proper resources, they are the ones who are heading for the fall. I know because I was starting to become one of them.

That’s why I created The Zen Teacher Project. Realizing that I needed to adopt a position of self-care (since no one else seemed to be helping teachers cope with the current challenges), I saw a mindful and zen-like perspective as one possible way I could keep my sense of peace and sanity in a profession gone crazy. Judging from the response I’ve been getting, I’m not the only one who feels that way. But you don’t have to go with my approach. Find what works for you. But please realize that as a teacher, you are doing sacred work in an industry that, in my experience, is no longer much concerned if it sacrifices you in the process.

I'm not trying to offend, alarm, or take an irrevocably fatalistic stance. I just want the people I care about in the profession I care about to be taken care, not taken advantage of. That’s all.

Because the way I see it now, we need to take care of ourselves.

And we need to take care of each other.

So to start the ball rolling, my challenge to you is that you look around and see if you see a teacher close to the edge. One who looks a little dizzy, is wavering, teetering, maybe poised for fall.

And then reach out to that teacher.

And hold on to him or her.

And then both of you join the conversation about teacher well-being.

And helps us figure out what works.

Why?

Because our kids needs relaxed, fulfilled, and centered teachers.

Because we want to be makers, and gamers, and flippers, and pirates.

But mainly, because it looks like it’s going to be up to us to keep each other thriving in the classroom.